One person's ramblings, can be another person's insight.
In Politics
Bart Stupak Retires
Apr 10th
Bart Stupak: Tea Party didn’t force me to leave
Everyone by now has heard that Bart Stupak, Democrat House of Representative for Michigan 1st Congressional District is retiring. Many seem to believe it is because of the outcry of his constituents that were steadfast against the health care legislation he voted for.
He says that is not the case, even the death threats, curses, and harassing calls was not why he was quitting.
He stated, that if anything the health care bill kept him around longer than he might have stayed, he had been struggling with this decision for 6 years.
I wonder how many other senators and representatives will be subjected to the fallout of the Health Care bill. This contested piece of legislation is not sitting well with many Americans. The democrats only have a short time for their flagship bill to perform.
Americans are very impatient, and mark my words this will be an item during the November elections this year if the bill touted by the Democrats as their single biggest achievement does not put some dent in the problem at hand, then it will be blasted everywhere and the Democrats can lose control of the House and Senate.
If that happens, then President Obama will be hard pressed to get much of anything done, considering how he has not brought down the walls of bipartisanship in Washington. Though he promised in his campaign to work together with both parties to get things done, his biggest legislations were put through at a time they could steam roll over the Republicans and get it passed without their input or help.
The whole time the Democrats legislation such as the Health Care Bill, and the Economic Stimulus, the concerns of the republicans were ignored, and they became Democrat legislation. The Economic Stimulus was a flop, and for the sake of the Democrats they should pray the Health Care Bill out performs it’s expectations sooner than later.
The Tax Cut Wars Begin….
Jan 11th
The Tax Cut Wars Begin….
Well it has started, the tax cuts proposed by Obama are going through the grinder as we speak. Likely they will not happen. I remember when Tax Cuts are supposed to be a good thing, where most economists insisted that it would stimulate growth.
I have wrote recently about the price tag of Obama’s stimulus package as being too high, and though I stand behind that, at least part of that price tag included tax cuts. Tax cuts that were designed to go right back into the pockets of middle class Americans and businesses.
Now, “Senate Democrats Seek to Raise Energy, Infrastructure Investment, Keep Taxes Cats Low in Stimulus“. So my question is if there is less in cost due to removing or lowering the tax cuts, why is the price tag going up?
“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi vowed Sunday that the package that comes out of the lower chamber would include no earmarks and predicted the stimulus plan might exceed $775 billion. Some lawmakers have put the price tag at nearly $1 trillion.”
Historically it has been proven that if we give more money back to the tax payers, especially as it was proposed in Obama’s plan, that it will stimulate the economy. More people will have more money in their pockets to buy the essential things they need, pay their bills, and so forth. Businesses benefit also when they pay less in taxes, because then the overhead of the operation becomes lower allowing them to hold on to employees longer, and just like Middle Class American, pay their bills.
Somewhere about three to four years ago, tax cuts supposedly became the opposite in many Democrats eyes. So let me ask, if we increase taxes will that stimulate the economy? I am not economist, but somehow that makes no sense to me.
At least one democrat sees it the way Obama does, Governor Jim Doyle of Wisconsin disagreed with the Democrats lining up to criticize the tax breaks.
Well with a price tag of $1 Trillion there is a good chance we will see tax increases. Why do I suddenly feel like I am working for Enron, and soon the pork belly projects will be added to this plan and fiscal responsibility will be thrown out the window.
Key Democrats blast Obama stimulus plan or did they?
Jan 10th
Ever watched that movie, that about half way through it your realize this is not the movie you thought it would be. It could have been a misleading title, or advertisement. Like you would not title a movie “Chainsaw Massacres” if there was no chainsaw in it, would you?
Well this article to me was just the same, “Key Democrats blast Obama stimulus plan“. It is true, I supported McCain, but it was not the fact that Obama was being blasted, it was the “Key Democrats” that just drew me in like a traffic accident on the freeway. I was curious as to the opposition, since Obama has kind of become the poster child of the democratic party.
Well just like the missing chainsaw, there was no mention of who the “Key Democrats” were, and trust me I have been blasted by the best and there is no blasting going on here. It sounds more like a discussion, people throwing out suggestions or concerns. This was not blasting. Especially when you read, “Democrats made it clear that they plan to put their stamp on the massive economic stimulus bill.” Now this is not blasting by any stretch of the imagination.
I know a title is meant to grab you, and I get that. But I feel cheated. The title should have read, “Democrats discuss Obama’s Stimulus Plan”, or even “Democrats voice concern over Obama’s Stimulus Plan”.
Actually the honest title should have been “Unnamed Democrats Discuss Stimulus Plan”, but that would not sell many papers.
Gas Prices, Remember When…
Dec 20th
One thing that annoys me about the news, is the lack of attention. For months all we heard was how the sky was falling all because of gas prices. Well now gas prices national average prices is $1.66 per gallon in the United States. A year ago it was over $2 a gallon, 6 months ago it was over $4 per gallon, and only three months ago it was still over $3.50 per gallon.
Now look at it.
I have yet to see a front page article saying, “Gas prices falling, boon for economy”. It certainly helps us in these tough times that we are not paying $4 per gallon.
Check out this historical chart from www.gasbuddy.com located here.
I also came across this article, during the presidential race when gas prices were such a hot topic. Everyone was blaming each other, and each said they had their plan to fix it. In this article Obama blamed it on the old political structure, you can read the article here.
And it was not just Obama, even McCain said he would act immediately to lower gas prices, this was on his own polical website located here.
Hillary Clinton also had her spin on how she would fix things on her website located here, she squarely blamed the Bush administration.
Well here it is, almost a month before Obama takes office, and it looks like it is fixed. Down the prices go. No real major policy changes, Bush is still in office, none of these people are in office to effect change and it happened anyway. Could it have anything to do with how much we are paying for a barrel of oil?
Now of course, the theories will fly that it was a conspiracy of some sort, or that the impact of a new president coming to power influenced the prices to go down. Or they will say Bush got so rich off the oil, that he does not need it anymore.
Me personally, I think it is just part of the cycle. Economy and prices always go up and down, things change, there are so many factors that are likely involved that we will never know the reason the prices went down. Too often we look for the one answer, but life is not that simple. But someone will take credit for it.